Former Marlins hitter signs with a division rival

The Miami Marlins just added a first baseman, and now so did the division rival Washington Nationals. Perhaps surprisingly, another division rival is yet to bring back another first baseman. So who is this first baseman that Washington signed? That first baseman is of course Josh Bell, who signed for 1 year/$6 million. Bell is the second first baseman that they've signed.

Former Miami Marlins slugger Josh Bell signed with the Washington Nationals.

Josh Bell had a short run with the Miami Marlins. He played in the second half of the 2023 season with the team. He batted .270/.338/.480, with 11 home runs and 26 RBI in 53 games and 200 AB. He was worth 0.4 WAR for that perofrmance. The following season he played with the team in the first half of the season. He batted .239/.305/.394, with 14 home runs and 49 RBI in 104 games and 398 AB. He was worth a terrible -0.8 WAR.

As it's pretty obvious, Josh Bell was never a key hitter for the Miami Marlins. He's not a top first baseman, and he will almost certainly have to try hard to even win the starting first base job with the team. Nathaniel Lowe has recently been acquired by the team, but Bell will have to compete with him for the starting spot. I'm surprised that Pete Alonso wasn't a target for them. They have a pretty open payroll situation, so I'm really confused why they didn't go after him.

The Washington Nationals won just 71 games in both the 2023 and the 2024 seasons. This makes me really confused as to why they didn't try to bring in a legitimate difference-maker. Neither Nathaniel Lowe or Josh Bell is going to make the difference, so I'm not sure why that's who they're bringing in.

The Miami Marlins didn't need to bring in Josh Bell, as his career is basically being a bench player and injury replacement. He can be a starter, but certainly not one on a playoff contending team. I don't see him making much of a difference for Washington.